OK, LE and M-box versions are cheaper than SX3 or course. But generally, as far as I know, once all the proprietary hardware has been bought, a Pro Tools system will cost more than an equivalent system - for example a similar spec Nuendo set-up.
Well, I'm not going to compare it to Nuendo because Nuendo 3 is $2000 right there. You have to understand that you're getting BOTH hardware and software with an LE system. I don't think spending $1200 for an 18 input interfaces with software included is all that bad. I don't think spending $300 for the M-Powered software is that bad. So if they're saying the software costs about $300 alone, and the 002r system is 1200, that actually makes the 002r by itself only $900. Some people would probably still complain about that, but I don't think it's too terrible of a price.
The prices of softare and hardware vary all the time...Pro Tools M-Powered isn't selling at $2000 like Nuendo is. If that WAS the cost of just the software and it was still a "light" version, of course I wouldn't buy it either. But do I expect $2000 software features for when I'm only spending $300??? Hell no.
As far as I know - the points I made are true, but please correct me if I'm wrong:
Bouncing a project's finished mix including plug-ins/automix to a single wav file has to be done in real time.
Real time bouncing came around not only because of the TDM cards and TDM plugins that are processed on the cards, but also because back in the day there weren't a ton of plugins available. Even today, how are you going to use outboard gear with your system if you bounce offline? You can't...none of the outboard effects would be processed. True, sometimes I wish it would be easier to have an offline bounce, but really it's not the #1 thing I'd want them to fix. I can easily just walk away while it's bouncing and not listen to it...or even better, take one last final listen to make sure I got everything and that what I'm bouncing is exactly what the final mix is going to sound like.
Real slip editing, as in that used in producing material for radio is not possible. IE. there is no mode where an edit or movement will affect the position of all material before or after that point in the timeline.
First off, I would never use Pro Tools in a radio station...there are better programs out there suited for that. Programs that are created solely for radio stations.
While there is shuffle mode that is made available, it's even easier to just select all the regions you want to move and use
the grabber tool to move them all at once in slip mode.
And if you're meaning that you can't record stuff for radio (ie. commercials) with Pro Tools...you can. I do it all the time.
Pro Tools has a slip mode, we just probably do it a different way than what you Cubase guys do. But I can move my stuff around just as efficiently as you.
It is not possible to create groups of audio segments without creating a new audio material/files.
The word Groups are referred to something else in Pro Tools...not what you are defining them as. Usually we mean Mix Groups when we say that.
I think you're talking about consolidating regions, in PT. Which is really very trivial to complain about. I personally don't consolidate until I'm done with everything because I might like to go back and make more edits. But once I am done, it's nice to render a new file completely of my entire track. That way, if for example, the session got corrupted or something I can easily go to my audio files folder and find the entire track.
Pro Tools does have Region groups though, which does exactly what I think you are talking about.
Pro Tools won't let you open more than one video file to use in a project.
This is true, but I've never found the need for more than one. I don't use Pro Tools to edit video, so I don't need an entire Avid video sequence in my timeline. When video guys are done with the video, that is when I get a final quicktime. Audio is one of the final things that is done to the video after everything is edited accordingly. If there are multiple videos, that usually means there are multiple projects (different TV shows, different commercials, different movies, etc.), so I'll create a new session for that invidiual project. Keeps things more organized in my opinion.
Pro Tools creates fade files.
Again, very trivial in my opinion. I guess I can see the benefit of not having them rendered, but really in an average song the fade files folder is only a couple of MB. In fact I just finished up a 20 minute short film that had probably close to 30-40 tracks and the fade files folder is only 10MB. Not a huge deal considering the entire session is over 2GB.
Plus, if you render the fade to a new file then PT and the computer are just reading the file. As opposed to not rendering it and the computer having to do actual processing on the audio file itself during playback.
Look, I may be a Mac Tools fan (although I run a PC and Pro Tools works 100% for me) but I just don't understand why people feel the need to answer a thread with a Pro Tools question by just bashing the software the entire time. Many times, the answers have nothing to do with the original question and the people answering them have never used the software or maybe touched it once. That's like me complaining about how SUVs get bad gas mileage...but I don't drive one so it doesn't matter.
I don't use Cubase SX...never have, so I don't say anything bad about it. Other people like it, wonderful. I've used Nuendo and didn't like how it was laid out and ended up liking Pro Tools better. I know there are some feautures I wish it had, but I have the right to complain about it because I actually use it.
